We are finding Stockholm to be one of the best cities that we have ever visited and one of the most relaxed places around. But why?
Despite an obviously big tourist bias in our observations as we cannot really tell just who the tourists are and who are the Swedes, we are beginning to think that having a culture build around over 200 years of peace must be a big factor. No direct involvement in either of the world wars and a high degree of social welfare could mean this is a nation at one with itself and being relaxed about its place on Earth.
It is a great pleasure to be able to mix in public places without any security screening, no holding of backpacks and bags in locker rooms and an obvious high level of trust in people to do the right thing. This is a big, big contrast to places like Australia where policy mistakes like Viet Nam, followed by Iraq and Afghanistan are helping to generate a militaristic, aggressive overlay on day to day living thereby heavily influencing our culture. We could learn a lot from the Swedes if we ever looked further than the US for our cultural directions.
Despite an obviously big tourist bias in our observations as we cannot really tell just who the tourists are and who are the Swedes, we are beginning to think that having a culture build around over 200 years of peace must be a big factor. No direct involvement in either of the world wars and a high degree of social welfare could mean this is a nation at one with itself and being relaxed about its place on Earth.
It is a great pleasure to be able to mix in public places without any security screening, no holding of backpacks and bags in locker rooms and an obvious high level of trust in people to do the right thing. This is a big, big contrast to places like Australia where policy mistakes like Viet Nam, followed by Iraq and Afghanistan are helping to generate a militaristic, aggressive overlay on day to day living thereby heavily influencing our culture. We could learn a lot from the Swedes if we ever looked further than the US for our cultural directions.
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